Family
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Takes place after the Season 3 episode Lust in the Dust. Stephanie muses on the meaning of what it means to have a family.


**Hey there! Here's a new Full House oneshot I cooked up one day. This takes place after the Season 3 episode "Lust in the Dust" and before "13 Candles". DJ is twelve, Stephanie seven, and Michelle two and a half. Anyway, Steph is in her room with Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, musing over the concept of family. Danny remembers Pam, and the Coreys are trying to think of ways to tell DJ about their feelings of a crush on her. The saying at the beginning of this oneshot is one of my own, which I made up myself.**

**Disclaimer: Genius Jeff Franklin owns Full House. I own the songfics, oneshots, stories, crossovers and poems I cook up from time to time. And of course, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim are real people, so nobody owns them. (I kind of wish they guest starred on a few episodes of Full House, too.)**

**Well, hope you enjoy the story!**

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Family

_**Family is something that God gives us.**_

Stephanie Tanner, seven, thought and mused over the sentence as the Coreys – Corey Haim and Corey Feldman – ran their hands through her blond hair. She knew she could never keep a secret, especially when it came to a surprise or something really big or neat. Also, she was a bit of a blabbermouth when it came to telling a secret. Plus, like her mom, she was known to get excitable over some things. And she could talk for hours as well.

Unfortunately, her habit of talking so much had gotten her in trouble once back when she was in first grade. Her teacher had written in the "comments" section on her report card,

"Stephanie is a wonderful student, but she needs to control her talking in class."

Then her dad had said, "Steph, you have to stop being such a little chatterbox."

"So," she had replied, "my own family thinks I'm a chatterbox? How rude."

So then, for about 3 days, she didn't talk at all. And Danny kind of regretted calling her a chatterbox.

Anyway, she was now thinking about something else – family.

"Family," she sighed. "It must be real nice to be part of a family. Right, guys?"

The Haimster and the Felddog, as the Coreys called each other, nodded in agreement.

"Then we must be like brothers to you, right, Steph?" asked the Felddog. Steph nodded.

Then Danny Tanner, the girls' father, walked in. He saw the Coreys caressing Stephanie's hair as she was sitting there, talking about family to them.

He smiled, but then he remembered his wife, Pam Katsopolis-Tanner, and felt a little sad.

Danny was a consummate neat freak and planner of things to the minutest detail at times. But often he jumped the gun too early when it came to judging things at times. Plus, he sometimes wished Pam was there. He disliked change, wanting things to always stay the way they were. And without Pam to help him through it, he found it tough to cope. And that was part of the reason why he was always so nuts about cleaning. It took his mind off of the loss of his wife.

Pam not only knew how to keep her family together; she also knew what her children – usually DJ – were about to do before they even did it. Her motto was, "Smiles are for free, so give them away!"

She was also a good mother, and was stern sometimes, but loving all the same. DJ was ten, Steph was five and Michelle was just a baby when Pam had died in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. She was a sister, a mother and a friend to all who knew her, and she had an uncanny knack for knowing what DJ did before she did it – something that Steph unknowingly got from her, along with knowing what type of tears someone was crying.

Danny couldn't bring himself to punish Michelle, his "little princess", because she didn't have a mom, and Pam always had things running so smoothly, like a well-oiled machine, when she was alive. He would come home from work and everything would be perfect. He missed her terribly.

Jesse, his brother-in-law, was a little bit of a rebel, but he was now beginning to mellow a bit. He often missed Pam, and he sometimes wore a cross necklace around his neck to remind him of her. She was his big sister, and he loved her very much. His greatest love was music. And he had a little obsession with his hair, wanting it to stay perfect because, according to his dad Nick Katsopolis, who yelled a lot at him when he was a kid, Katsopolis men were known for their kissing and their great hair.

Joey Gladstone was Danny's best friend since they met in fifth grade on February 23, 1968. A kid named Sheldon had been picking on Danny, and Joey stood up for Danny. Then Danny returned the favor by saving Joey from getting in trouble. They had saved each other, so they became soul brothers. Danny buried his Giants cap, and Joey buried his favorite book, "A Thousand and One Insults".

Once when Jesse and Joey found out that Danny had broken another date, this time with Stephanie's dance teacher Karen Penner, they pressed him for answers. They found that the reason why was because he had seen her apartment, which turned out to be messy. And Danny, being a neat freak, just couldn't tolerate a mess or someone like Karen who tolerated a mess. So he broke off the relationship.

**Flashback…**

_"Why is it every girl I go out with has something wrong with her? Maybe it's bad luck. Maybe it's fate," Danny said._

_"Maybe it's **you**," said Jesse._

_"How could it be **me**?"_

_Joey replied,_

_"Danny, you're making yourself nuts looking for the perfect woman. There's no such thing as ‛the perfect woman'."_

_"Yes, there is," replied Danny. "I was married to her."_

_"Hey, Pam was my sister, and I loved her very, very much. But, come on, man. She was always late, she spent way too much time in the bathroom. When I was little, she used to hold me down and stick carrots up my nose. Trust me; she wasn't perfect," said Jesse._

_Joey agreed. "Danny, she seemed perfect to you because you loved her," he said._

_"Danny, the bottom line here is that you're afraid to get close to somebody. So you look for something wrong in every girl you go out with," said Jesse._

_Danny was a little surprised. "**I** do that?"_

_"Yes, Mr. Her-earlobes-aren't-perfect," said Jesse, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Danny had smiled at this._

_Then Jesse said,_

_"I mean, you got to start looking for what's right in people. Otherwise, you're going to miss out on someone who can make your life a whole lot happier. Think about it."_

**End of flashback…**

Danny thought over what Joey and Jesse had said. He had forgotten about Pam until Jesse had brought her up.

_Both Joey and Jesse are right, _Danny thought. _I __**do **__have to start looking for what's right in people. And I also learned a good lesson the hard way, too – everybody has flaws._

He then turned and left the room. He knew that apparently that talk with Jesse and Joey was a good one, and it also had helped shed some light on why he was afraid to get close to someone. He knew he needed some advice, and Jesse and Joey had given him good ideas.

Stephanie, who was unaware that her dad had been standing in the doorway, continued to think over the meaning of family. She found out some surprising things. Family is always there when you need someone to talk with, and you can always count on them.

The Coreys, of course, had their own problem. They had a crush on DJ, but couldn't find the courage to tell her yet.

Steph smiled. She knew that with her family by her side, she could make it through anything, good or bad.

That night as she slept, the Coreys slept on the floor next to her bed.

The Coreys were like brothers – they would fight sometimes, but they always made up.

Just like family.

The smile remained on Stephanie's face as she slept.

There are all kinds of families. And all of them are different. But they all have one thing in common – each other.

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**Well, I hope you like this story as much as I did writing it. After all, families are families, and life can be many things to so many people as well. I think about that every day, ****and it sure does surprise me quite often. **

**Anyway, leave feedback, please. After all, nice and encouraging feedback is what a writer like myself needs to write more and cook up more fics and stuff. :) **

**~Nightcrawlerlover**


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